Derek Harvey

I suppose because I’m the editor of a local publication, some people assume I’m the fountain of all knowledge about all things local.

Unfortunately (for me) some people seem to think I’m on call 24/7 just to answer questions. I get phone calls at all hours of the day and night, weekdays and weekends, and sometimes the mind boggles at the inanity of them.

However, last month one of them brought a smile to my face and still does when I think about it. One of our contributors emailed me to ask if I knew anything about the progress of Nerja’s sewerage works. Well, no I don’t but what makes me smile is that I now know that Nerja town hall doesn’t have a clue about it either.

Within a few days of the question being put to me the town hall announced that it is to ask the regional government for an update on plans for the plant. Infrastructure councillor José Alberto Tomé said it was “worrying” that no information was forthcoming and that progress on the environmental impact study was unknown by the town hall.

The €36million plant is planned for a site next to the Fuente del Badén urbanization but that’s about all that anybody knows (except for comments that the site is unsuitable and another should be found – which just add to the uncertainty).

Other projects surrounded by uncertainty are, of course, the golf course and the marina. It therefore came as welcome news that the Junta de Andalucia has confirmed in writing its approval of the proposed new location for Nerja’s new health centre. If all goes well, work on the site north of the N340 at the Burriana beach roundabout could start by the end of this year and be completed during 2010.

As I’m off to the UK the day after writing this to go to meet my ten-day-old granddaughter I can’t help but compare the two countries. On balance, I think if it were not for family I probably wouldn’t go to the UK any more. I have said in this column before that it appears that in the UK the lunatics have taken over the running of the asylum and there are enough examples of that in this issue of Soltalk.

For example, a Muslim resident in Scotland caught driving at 64mph in a 30mph zone, normally fast enough for an instant disqualification, has been allowed to keep his licence so that he can continue to drive to spend alternate nights with one of his two wives and fulfil his matrimonial duties in either Glasgow or Motherwell where they live.

Then there was the Muslin bus driver in Langley, Berkshire, who told the passengers to get off as he needed to pray. “We thought it was a wind-up at first, like Jeremy Beadle,” said one passenger – a natural assumption I would have thought.

For more examples of UK madness, turn to our contributor, Matt Lorenzo’s ‘rant’ on page 46 of our paper edition. I suppose it’s just a matter of inflation as I have lived here for nearly nine years now but I am astonished the charge in London for getting your car towed away now is £250 and forgetting to pay the congestion charge will cost you £60.

Contrast that with the treatment I once received just off the Strand in London. I used to commute by car and park on a meter which entailed moving it every two hours. When I went to do so once two wardens who, I presume, regularly patrolled the area and recognized my car, told me not to bother but to feed the meter and watched while I did so. They don’t make wardens like that any more.

I think I’ll stay here and try not to lose any sleep over the sewerage plant and the golf course.